In treating toilet flush water with chemicals so as to produce desirable effects such as bowl aesthetics, cleaning, disinfection, deodorization, etc., it is desirable that the chemicals be dispensed into the flush water automatically each time the toilet is flushed. The prior art discloses numerous solid lavatory cleansing blocks which have the capability of automatically dispensing metered amounts of chemicals to effect cleaning and sanitizing. However, prior to the present invention liquid cleaners which contain a halophor sanitizing agent have not been available that are responsive to flushing.
Generally, the liquid cleansing compositions which are presently available do not contain a sanitizing agent. Most prior art liquid cleaners merely contain surfactants, dyes, perfumes, and other fillers to provide cleaning and sudsing with an indicator.
Automatically dispensed toilet bowl cleaning and/or sanitizing products, which contain dyes to provide a visual signal to the user that the product is being dispensed, are well known. Such products are sold in the United States under the brand names VANISH AUTOMATIC (Drackett Products), TY-D-BOL AUTOMATIC (Kiwi Brands, Inc.) and SANIFLUSH AUTOMATIC (Boyle-Midway). None of these products contains an iodophor sanitizing agent and all of them provide a color to the bowl water which persists between flushings. U.S Pat. No. 3,504,384, Radlevy et al, issued Apr. 7, 1970, discloses a dual compartment dispenser for automatically dispensing a hypochlorite solution and a surfactant/dye solution to the toilet bowl during flushing. The dye which is taught in the patent is Disulfide Blue VN150. This dye is resistant to oxidation to a colorless state by hypochlorite; thus, it provides a persistent color to the toilet bowl water, even in the presence of the hypochlorite.
In order to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's efficacy data requirements for in-tank sanitizer products claims for effectiveness, it is necessary that the user be able to determine the product effectiveness. That is, the color indicator must show that the sanitizing ingredient is still present in a sanitizing amount. Consequently, it is essential that the sanitizing agent have the same life in the sanitizing product as the color indicator.
The use of chloride or hypochloride ion as the sanitizing agent has the disadvantage that most dyes are oxidized to a colorless state and there is no visual indication that the sanitizing agent is active and working in the toilet bowl.
The use of iodine-containing formulations have been previously considered as sanitizing agents for toilets because of their greater sanitizing capabilities than chlorine-containing agents. However, the iodine-containing agents have not been previously employed in automatic dispensing liquid toilet compositions because they yield an unacceptable color in the toilet bowl. Also, prior to the present invention, phosphoric acid has been utilized in iodophor-containing cleansing compositions for stabilization.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,728,449 and 4,207,310 disclose iodophors which may be used in the present invention.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid lavatory cleansing and sanitizing composition containing halophors which are suitable for use automatically dispensing cleaning agents into the toilet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stable composition for use in metering the sanitizing effect of the iodine released in liquid iodophor-containing lavatory cleansing compositions.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a liquid lavatory cleaning composition wherein there is a synergistic sanitizing effect together with a dye.